Chapter 74

Facing Su Junyu's inquiry, Wang Qi did not respond at all. Seeing that Wang Qi did not want to talk, Su Junyu did not press further but instead instructed the four of them to rest well that night.

In the middle of the night, Wang Qi quietly opened his eyes.

Since no one was tending to the bonfire, it had become very weak. Wang Qi casually poked it a couple of times and threw in a few dry branches. Then, he tiptoed towards the lakeside.

To avoid waking the others, he walked cautiously on tiptoe. It was close to the new moon, and the moonlight was faint, making it quite dark. It was not easy to avoid stepping on dry branches. For this reason, Wang Qi focused his spiritual awareness on his feet.

After walking about a hundred feet, Zhen Chanzi suddenly spoke: "Stop here. If you want to vent alone, don't go any further. This is still within Su Junyu's spiritual awareness range. If you take a few more steps, Su Junyu will be awakened."

Wang Qi let out a long breath: "You actually figured out what I was going to do?"

"After all, I've taught you for several years. Even if you never acknowledged me as your master, I still treated you like a nephew."

Wang Qi found a relatively flat stone and sat down: "My mind is a bit chaotic."

This was a sparse forest, with few trees blocking the view, so the field of vision was quite open. In the distance, Jia Chen Lake reflected the stars in the sky, shimmering faintly. Wang Qi just stared at the lake, saying nothing.

After a while, Zhen Chanzi said: "You're not confused, but rather, you've made up your mind."

Wang Qi chuckled: "I don't think so."

"You've never been settled."

"Is that so?"

Zhen Chanzi smiled bitterly: "Indeed, the one involved is often the last to see it. Haven't you noticed that your recent state is a bit off?"

"How so?"

"When I first met you, you had little interest in cultivation. Even after embarking on the path of immortality, you didn't show much enthusiasm for combat techniques. Plus, you valued your life so much that you wouldn't practice any slightly risky methods. That's the you I know well."

Wang Qi looked at his palm, clenched his fist, and felt the power within his body, muttering: "Cultivating like this, indeed, doesn't seem like me."

"Hehe, you know it too. To ensure your combat strength, you simultaneously practice ten divine techniques. While this is partly due to your extreme confidence in your talent and the misleading statement 'you have the chance to make mistakes at this stage,' it's undeniable that you've been hasty. Not to mention a few days ago, when you found inspiration to unify several techniques and rushed to practice, almost losing your life. If it were the you who values your life, you would have spent a few days pondering the techniques."

"Indeed."

The two fell silent for a while. Zhen Chanzi suddenly said: "You care more about that village and Li Ziyue than you think."

Wang Qi suddenly raised his right hand and slapped the rock beneath him, sending a few pebbles flying: "Those bastards... The deaths of the Dabai Village residents are not my fault, but we've been neighbors for over ten years; Li Ziyue, though I've only known him for a short time, saved my life..."

"You, kid." Zhen Chanzi sighed: "If you cry and shout 'I will slaughter the Huangji Lie Tian Dao,' you might feel better."

Wang Qi's expression changed, and he finally smiled weakly: "That's not my style. I live to be happy."

"Being happy is good," Zhen Chanzi said. "But you're not happy."

"Feeling like I owe someone something is uncomfortable, and this debt is hard to repay."

"So that's why you're working hard on combat techniques?"

"Those who make me unhappy must die."

Zhen Chanzi fell silent again and said: "But, I feel you've never been truly happy. Or rather, you know what makes you unhappy, but you've never said what makes you happy."

Wang Qi lowered his head and said nothing. Zhen Chanzi continued: "You do show interest in some things, but from what I see, you don't seem to do them out of genuine desire, more like... habit? Or as a memorial?"

"For example?"

"Like the card game you always play with Su Junyu? You don't seem to genuinely enjoy it like Su Junyu does. And your obsession with the half-demon girl's ears, but you're not really into half-demons."

A memorial? A memorial to my past life?

Wang Qi laughed self-deprecatingly. He had read some穿越 novels in his past life. Back then, he found it amusing when the main characters in these novels messed around with Earth products in a different world or had an obsession with things similar to Earth products. But he never thought that when he himself crossed over, this feeling would be so unamusing.

He subconsciously did these things, perhaps as a way to remember his past on Earth.

"You seem uninterested in everything, yet you're always cheerful. What are you happy about? The old man's last words?"

Wang Qi slapped the rock forcefully, angrily: "He's my grandfather!"

The force of his palm left a mark on the rock.

Wang Qi's birth brought no joy to the Wang family in Dabai Village on the Divine Continent.

Similarly, for a long time, it brought no joy to Wang Qi.

Just because I crossed over, should I happily shout 'I am the only one under heaven and earth' and call strangers father and mother to enjoy a few years of family bliss before starting a grand empire?

Ha.

On Earth, I have parents and relatives, a group of friends, close friends, and a woman I admire. Not to mention the studies and career I've been striving for for over ten years, and my dream of exploring the truth.

Now, you suddenly want me to abandon all of that and call these people father, mother, and grandfather, and start a life I don't want in this world?

That's how Wang Qi thought at first. His birth mother died in childbirth, and he didn't feel much. Even when he saw his birth father in a daze, he felt more pity than closeness.

We are both unfortunate people. I was unlucky to cross over, and you were unlucky to lack a normal son. Ha.

It wasn't until his birth father died, and his grandfather held him and cried that day, that he felt he had done something wrong.

So, he tried calling the old man "Grandfather."

In front of the old man's wrinkled, smiling face, he finally chose to be a normal grandson.

In the end, when the old man died, he held Wang Qi's hand and said his last words: "Good child, good child, be happy in the future. You should learn to smile. A child who loves to laugh, even ghosts won't take."

Wang Qi felt he had a responsibility to live happily.

He thought living happily wasn't hard, just find something to amuse yourself, who can't do that?

But...

Wang Qi looked up at the sky and said: "According to Su Junyu, I know my happiness but don't know what makes me happy."